{"id":268961,"date":"2021-06-07T20:06:48","date_gmt":"2021-06-07T17:06:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/video-chat-apps-making-tweaks-to-illuminate-darker-skin-tones\/"},"modified":"2021-06-07T20:06:48","modified_gmt":"2021-06-07T17:06:48","slug":"video-chat-apps-making-tweaks-to-illuminate-darker-skin-tones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/video-chat-apps-making-tweaks-to-illuminate-darker-skin-tones\/","title":{"rendered":"#Video chat apps making tweaks to illuminate darker skin tones"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3dbe3998cdd\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3dbe3998cdd\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/video-chat-apps-making-tweaks-to-illuminate-darker-skin-tones\/#%E2%80%98Not_equally_represented\" >\u2018Not equally represented\u2019<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>#Video chat <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>s making tweaks to illuminate darker skin tones<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Video\u00a0conferencing services have for years boasted that their <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/technology\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"4\" title=\"Technology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">technology<\/a> is \u201cintuitive\u201d to use or \u201cintegrated\u201d to function with other tools, but now vendors such as Google and Cisco can hardly go a blog post without trumpeting a different attribute: \u201cinclusive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The latest buzzword, and the product development that accompanies it, shows how tech companies are newly focused on assuring Black users and other persons of color that online\u00a0chat\u00a0products will not leave them out in the cold. The changes stem in part from the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement \u2013 which has prompted vendors and customers alike to think beyond the needs of a white, English-speaking audience \u2013 and the pandemic, which created a large \u201cremote\u201d workforce heavily dependent on technology.<\/p>\n<p>Alphabet Inc\u2019s Google this month plans to deploy an artificial intelligence (AI) feature that addresses the longstanding issue of darker\u00a0skin\u00a0tones being under-illuminated in\u00a0video\u00a0chats.<\/p>\n<p>Cisco Systems Inc in January launched a gesture-recognition feature to display a thumbs-up in Webex, taking pains to assure that\u00a0skin\u00a0tones would not affect performance. LogMeIn Inc\u2019s GoToMeeting, Microsoft Corp\u2019s Teams and <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a> Inc\u2019s Workplace are adding translation or pronunciation options in what they describe as an equity push. \u201cTechnology is fundamentally today just not as inclusive as you want it to be,\u201d said Jeetu Patel, senior vice president and <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">general<\/a> manager for Cisco security and collaboration. Setting \u201cvalues and principles that a product should stand for\u201d has become essential, he said.<\/p>\n<p>The tech industry has long been under fire for a poor record on workplace diversity and a failure to recognize the ways in which product design can perpetuate discrimination.<\/p>\n<p>Worries about bias in\u00a0video\u00a0conferencing picked up last September after Colin Madland, a doctoral student at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/colinmadland\/status\/1307111818981146626\">tweeted a screenshot of a Black colleague<\/a> appearing headless when deploying a virtual background on Zoom.<\/p>\n<p>Studies of other\u00a0AI\u00a0cropping systems have shown they generate more errors with darker\u00a0skin, in part because the data used to train them mostly included lighter examples.<\/p>\n<p>Zoom\u2019s chief diversity officer, Damien Hooper-Campbell, told Reuters: \u201cBias was not at play, but rather a combination of the user\u2019s distance from the camera, use of headphones, and seating position.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Madland said the problem subsided after his colleague purchased a green screen and some \u201csnazzy lighting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For Zoom and its rivals, delivering on inclusion could provide an edge while vying for post-pandemic deals with clients \u2013 which are facing their own reckonings on diversity.<\/p>\n<p>Global spending on cloud-based conferencing is forecast to reach $5.41 billion this year, up from $5.02 billion in 2020, according to tech consultancy Gartner. It does not track market share, but analysts cite Zoom and Cisco as the leaders.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" alt=\"A screengrab dated June 3, 2021 from Webex video conferencing software shows Keith Griffin, engineer, CTO Collaboration for Cisco, wearing a dark glove and holding up his thumb to demonstrate a gesture recognition feature, launched in January 2021, in this handout photo.\" class=\"wp-image-18453173 lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/06\/inclusive-ai-43.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=300 300w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/06\/inclusive-ai-43.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=640 640w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/06\/inclusive-ai-43.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1280 1280w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/06\/inclusive-ai-43.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/06\/inclusive-ai-43.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=2000 2000w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>A screengrab dated June 3, 2021 from Webex video conferencing software shows Keith Griffin, engineer, CTO Collaboration for Cisco, wearing a dark glove and holding up his thumb to demonstrate a gesture recognition feature, launched in January 2021, in this handout photo.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Reuters<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%98Not_equally_represented\"><\/span><strong>\u2018Not equally represented\u2019<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The upcoming Google Meet feature tackles the problem of people appearing darker because of their surroundings, for example when sitting in front of a window, said Niklas Blum, a Google product leader involved with Meet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUsers with dark\u00a0skin\u00a0tones are not equally represented, and we want to build products for everyone,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0AI\u00a0separates users from their background, determines whether they are underexposed regardless of their\u00a0skin\u00a0tone, brightens the picture accordingly, and finally merges the background and foreground.<\/p>\n<p>Meet\u2019s virtual waiting room will prompt users to activate the lighting adjustment when it detects they could benefit from it, said St\u00e9phane Hulaud, product lead for\u00a0video\u00a0quality and processing in Meet.<\/p>\n<p>Blum and Hulaud said Meet first identified the representation issues in\u00a0video\u00a0when launching a low-light enhancement for mobile calls well before the pandemic. Developing the latest feature took considerable time, but it led Meet to establish product inclusion testing procedures and mandate them for all of its work.<\/p>\n<p>Google is pursuing additional fixes, too. Meet is pitching laptop makers and operating systems on sharing greater control over cameras\u2019 white balance and exposure. Internally, Google adopted minimum light reflectiveness requirements for conference room designs.<\/p>\n<p>At Cisco, the new gesture-recognition option, when turned on, lets users hold up their thumb on camera for about a second to generate a virtual thumbs-up on screen.<\/p>\n<p>Cisco trained its\u00a0AI\u00a0to focus on the shape outline and movement of the gesture in time and space, reducing potential issues from variance in\u00a0skin\u00a0tone, said Keith Griffin, a distinguished engineer at the company.<\/p>\n<p>Praying hands \u2013 for \u201cthank you\u201d \u2013 are among possible new gesture options to come, with a feature that interprets sign language an eventual goal. Webex also expects to add\u00a0skin-tone options beyond yellow for the icons.<\/p>\n<p>Mike Sharp, LogMeIn\u2019s chief product officer for unified communications and collaboration, said education clients have driven some of the company\u2019s \u201cinclusion\u201d updates.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, forthcoming support for Spanish, Mandarin and other languages in voicemail prompts and transcriptions will benefit an unidentified California school district that wanted to better engage with its community, Sharp said.<\/p>\n<p>Facebook Workplace, a suite of business communication tools, last month said\u00a0video\u00a0town hall hosts soon would see name pronunciations for workers posing written questions.<\/p>\n<p>Product head Ujjwal Singh said the pointers, which are\u00a0AI-generated but editable,\u00a0aimed to help executives at clients including Nestle SA and Booking Holdings Inc properly address colleagues and promote inclusion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t want to mispronounce it to thousands of employees and look like I\u2019m not in touch with the company,\u201d he said.\n            <\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/06\/07\/video-chat-apps-making-tweaks-to-illuminate-darker-skin-tones\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#Video chat apps making tweaks to illuminate darker skin tones&#8221; Video\u00a0conferencing services have for years boasted that their technology is \u201cintuitive\u201d to use or \u201cintegrated\u201d to function with other tools, but now vendors such as Google and Cisco can hardly go a blog post without trumpeting a different attribute: \u201cinclusive.\u201d The latest buzzword, and the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":268962,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/06\/inclusive-ai-45.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[108557,70937,1471,26293],"class_list":["post-268961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-6-7-21","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-black-lives-matter","tag-google"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}